Conglomerate
by Rael Ellan
Summary: Called on to investigate two separate murders at the same time, The team find themselves stretched thin and struggle to cover all the angles they need. But when Magnus goes missing and becomes part of their investigation, will Kurt be able to find all the answers in time?
1. Report and Remissions

In the end, it was so simple Kurt was kicking himself. He had spent two weeks convincing himself that it was complicated - a political killing, perhaps. Instead, Karla Anderberg had caved in under pressure and admitted that she and her husband had killed Lenart Hansen because he was blackmailing them. Simple.

Kurt chose to leave that out of the report. Instead, he opted for being as succinct as possible while still including all the required details. Magnus and Ann-Britte, he knew, wrote more extensively than him. They could tell Lisa about the chase across the beach after Max Anderberg as he'd tried to run. They could tell Lisa how he went off on his own again, racing back to the house and only calling them in once he was certain.

He ran his hand across his face, staring at his computer screen in disgust as the cursor flashed at him.

He was being unfair to them again.

They made a good team, truthfully. He was grateful to have such good officers to rely on, who always did what he asked when he asked for it, even if Magnus did complain about it. He just enjoyed working alone. He didn't have to worry about getting anyone else hurt, didn't really have to be concerned about throwing himself into dangerous situations.

It made sense.

With one finger, he started to pick out the letters on the keyboard.

iThe Hansen.../i

Lisa was heading for his office door.

"Knock knock."

Closing his eyes briefly, Kurt willed himself not to look as exhausted as he felt.

"Have you been getting any sleep lately? You look ready to drop where you sit."

Apparently, he looked worse.

"Lisa", he acknowledged.

She gave him a stern, considering look and sighed.

"Magnus told me what happened."

Kurt snorted.

"Oh, of course he did." He took a breath, steadying himself. "Look, Lisa, I didn't take any risks. The Anderberg's weren't a threat-"

"You didn't know that! What if you had been wrong, hm?" She moved to sit in the chair on the other side of his desk. "Kurt, we discussed this. We have to go by the book as much as possible. As much as possible, I said". She held up a hand to silence his protest. "I understand that sometimes the book isn't, perhaps, the best option, but considering where we currently stand," she said, emphatically, "I think it would be best for you to keep a low profile. Alright?"

She waited for him to mumble his acquiescence before nodding briskly and moving towards the door.

"Oh, and Kurt? Well done."

He waited until she was swallowed in the usual chaos of the station before he allowed his head to sink into his hands.

His last case had revolved, primarily, around the murder of a young American businessman who had been found dead in his car. When the FBI had stepped in, to 'ensure justice was done', he had lost his temper, stepping on quite a few toes in the process and giving Lisa more than a little extra paperwork to deal with.  
He did feel guilty about that, but at least his little outburst had stopped the bloody Agents hovering around, peering over his shoulder every five minutes. They had been impossible to work around.

By the time he finished typing out his report, one letter at a time, it was nearly nine o'clock.

More overtime, he thought.

He nodded to the night shift officers, clutching cups of coffee and tea as the uniforms prepared to go on patrol.

The car park was quiet as he fumbled inside his pockets for his car keys.

"Kurt!"

The keys fell to the floor and bounced underneath his car. Breathing deeply and trying to control his frustration, he crouched down and began to search for them.

"Magnus. I thought you'd gone home."

"No. Well, yes, but I left something behind. Had to pick it up."

After a slight pause, Magnus crouched down beside him, reached under the car, and produced the keys. Kurt took them and tried not to seem entirely ungrateful.

"Actually, I'm glad I caught you. I-I need a favour."

Kurt paused, half inside the car, and turned to stare at him incredulously.

"A favour."

"Yes,."

Kurt allowed an uncomfortable silence to settle between them.  
Magnus was shifting, almost nervously, alternately shoving his hands in his pockets and taking them out to rub them together. It was a cold night.

"Alright. What?"

"I, well. I want to take a couple of days off."

Kurt was confused.

"That's not anything to do with me. Ask Lisa."

"I have. She said I could take two days, if you'll agree." When Kurt offered no reply, he continued, "I need tomorrow and Thursday. I promised I'd go to this... Family event, and if I don't, well. I'll never hear the end of it."

His smile faded when he saw the look on the Detectives face.

Kurt sighed.

This felt like another of Holgersson's little tests, to make sure he was still able to be team leader. She had been concerned that his insistence on going off on his own would affect his view of others. Utter nonsense, he knew, but it been disheartening to know that she thought he would be entirely dismissive of his team.

"I suppose I don't have a choice, do I?" Magnus tipped his head, looking awkward. "Fine. But I want you in on Friday, early, to go through some case files with me."

Magnus rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but you get your own coffee."

Kurt conceded.

He was woken, early the next morning, by his phone ringing loudly on the coffee table, where he had put it when he had collapsed into a chair to watch television.

Blearily, he reached for it.

"Wallander."

"Kurt, I know it's early, but you need to come in," Ann-Britte's disconnected voice explained. "Another murder."


	2. The Start of a Serial

**My apologies for how long this has taken to post. But here it is, now! Enjoy!**

The girl had been hidden in a skip, half buried beneath the detritus from the myriad of shops that led off from the alley.

"Found by one of the local homeless," Anne-Britt said, as she walked with Kurt towards the body, laid out across the floor. "He was rummaging through the skip when he found her hand. He called the police, and disappeared."

Kurt nodded, distractedly.

The girl had been upended out of the skip by the baker, who had been roused by the beggar's shout of alarm. She lay surrounded by delivery boxes, plastic food containers, old magazines and banana skins.

"Any idea who she is?"

Anne-Britt shook her head.

"No ID. Just a photo of her with three other girls in her pocket. We're checking the missing persons list now, and looking for those other girls."

Kurt moved forward to look at her face, leaning on her shoulder as she lay sprawled on her side. She was dressed for a night out, gaudy lipstick and glittering dress making her look more like a pantomime character.

A uniform officer was taking photos of the scene. He nodded to the detectives as they walked away, back out of the alley.

"I called Magnus, before," Anne-Britt continued. "He didn't pick up."

It felt as though she was asking him a question. She was waiting, expectantly, for him to answer.

"Yeah, he… Lisa said he could take a few days. Family thing."

"Really? I thought they didn't talk." She shrugged. "Well, that leaves us with one less person, anyway."

The next hour was spent going up and down the street, asking if anyone had seen anything unusual. They asked managers, cashiers, customers, and stopped to knock at the door of the few houses scattered around the shop fronts. No one had seen or heard anything unusual, except, they were enthusiastically informed, for the fireworks in the street across.

"They set them off horizontally, you know. I complain every weekend, and none of you lot even come and take a look."

"Yes, thank you, Mrs Stenberger."

Spotting Nyberg's car parked beside the crime scene, now cordoned off, Kurt left Anne-Britt to placate the insistent woman and her terrier.

He ducked under the police tape, waved through by the uniform on watch, and walked towards the forensics team, happily working under Nyberg's instruction.

"Nyberg!"

The man stood and nodded to Kurt as he pulled off his gloves.

"Morning, Kurt."

"So, what do we have?"

Nyberg sighed and looked down at the girl at his feet.

"Two bullet holes in her back, likely what killed her. But there's some strangulation marks on her neck, and a deep cut around both wrists that probably came from handcuffs of some sort. Those are old wounds, though."

Anne-Britt jogged over to them, shoving her hands in her pockets to stave off the cold of the morning.

"I'll take her back to the lab for an autopsy, to check for anything else."

Kurt nodded.

"Great. Let me know when you have something."

As they walked away, it began to rain.

* * *

"Kurt, did you actually get any sleep last night?"

They had ducked into a small café to get out of the rain and for some much needed caffeine.

"What? Yes, yes, of course."

He waved her concern away as their drinks were brought across. The waiter was a young man, probably a student, Kurt thought. He was tall, still a little gangly, and seemed to have a soft spot for Hoglund.

"So, what do we do now?"

Anne-Britt had her hands wrapped around her warm mug and was looking at him, expectantly.

"We… Who did you say was checking the missing persons list?"

He took a sip of the coffee. Still hot enough to burn his tongue. He ignored it.

"Svedberg said he'd look into it, himself. Says he'll call with the results."

"Nothing much to do but wait then, I suppose."

He picked up the coffee again.

* * *

Kurt went home for lunch. Nothing had come through on the girl's ID yet, and Nyberg hadn't yet performed her autopsy. Lisa assured him that he wouldn't be missed.

Linda's car was on the driveway.

As he pulled over to park up, she emerged from the house and waved to him, shutting the boot of her car.

"You're early!"

He smiled as she pulled him into a hug.

"Yes. Lisa… Yes."

She pulled away and gestured to the house.

"Well then, would you like a healthy lunch?"

"Do I get the choice?"

She looked at him, askance.

"No, I didn't think so."

She ushered him into the sitting room and turned the TV on.

"There. Watch that for a bit. If you're not in the room, you can't sneak food."

There was nothing on. He settled, eventually, on a documentary about migrating birds moving from the Arctic Circle and began to dose in his chair.

* * *

"…ad. Dad, wake up."

Linda stood over him, holding a phone.

"W-what?"

"Anne-Britt says she needs you. Another murder."

He sighed and rubbed at his eyes.

"Fine. Tell her I'll be there in about twenty minutes." He stood and shrugged his coat back on just in time to catch Linda's stony expression as she put the meal she'd made in the fridge. "Linda, I'm sorry. I-"

She held up her hand to quiet him and smiled.

"I know, Dad. I know."

* * *

"Kurt! Good, I was getting worried that you weren't coming.

Lisa was smiling at him from inside the door of his office, holding a file. Beyond her, he could see Anne-Britt talking on the phone.

"There's been another murder?"

"Yes." Lisa handed him the file. "It seems you have another serial to deal with. I've asked Magnus to come back to work early, to help you."

"No, really that's not –"

She held up her hand, cutting him off.

"I just want this wrapped up quickly, Kurt. You might need him."

She stalked off, leaving him to examine the file in his hands. The second girl had been found washed up on the beach, dressed almost identically to the first victim. The sea water had washed of some of her make-up and in the photo she looked very young.

"-alright. Yes, thank you. Fine." Anne-Britt put down the phone and turned towards him. "We have the first girl. Karin Bertel. She's from Sjöbo. Went missing last week, apparently ran away. She left a note saying she was going to America, no one at home heard from her again."

Kurt sighed.

"And this one?"

He held up the file.

"Nothing yet. They're still running her through."

In his pocket, his phone beeped. It was a text message from Linda.

_Remember to eat. And get some sleep!_

He smiled and texted back:

_Ok._

Then, putting his phone down on his desk, he turned back to Anne-Britt.

"Oh, almost forgot! Nyberg wants to see us."

He smiled.

"Perfect. Let's go see him then."

As they left the room, Kurt's phone began to ring. The caller ID flashed up: _Martinsson._

**A.N. Oh, I am evil. But I promise, Magnus shall return in Chapter 3!**_  
_


End file.
